How to Add a Google Search Box to Your Web Site or Blog

You may have noticed that some blogs and other Web sites include a search box, usually in the sidebar, that allows readers to search the entire Web site using Google. This is beneficial if readers are looking for previous posts, or specific pages, that focus on certain topics or include keywords that you are looking for answers about.

To add your own search box, you could always build your own, but if you don’t know much about code, it would be easier just to use the code Google provides to Web site and blog owners for free that allows you to add a search box to your own Web site. This code can be found at Google Custom Search. To start, just visit that page and click the big blue “Create a Custom Search Engine” button. This custom search engine can include one or more Web sites, and allows you to host the search box and the results on your own Web site. You can even customize the look and feel of the results to match your site.

While other options are available for adding a search box to your Web site, including the Ligit search widget, you have more ownership control with your Google search box, including the ability to transfer ownership to a different user. Additionally, you can make money with AdSense for search in your own custom search results, and automatically search across links, bookmarks, or blogrolls withcustom search on the fly, which are services not offered with other search widgets. Google also makes it easy to manage multiple search engines using your own Google account, which you probably already use for several other daily functions (like your email and calendar). Having everything in one place is an added bonus of using using Google to add a search box to your Web site.

If you’re ready to add a search function to your blog, you can add a Google search box to your Web site at www.google.com/cse/.

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